Risk of Zika virus transmission in the Euro-Mediterranean area and the added value of building preparedness to arboviral threats from a One Health perspective

Abstract

In the alarming context of risk of Zika virus (ZIKV) transmission in the Euro-Mediterranean area, there is a need to examine whether capacities to detect, diagnose and notify ZIKV infections in the region are in place and whether ongoing capacity-building initiatives are filling existing gaps.The MediLabSecure network, created in 2014, comprises 55 laboratories of virology and medical entomology and 19 public health institutions in 19 countries in the Balkans, North-Africa, the Middle-East and the Black Sea regions. It aims to set up awareness, risk assessment, monitoring and control of emerging and re-emerging vector-borne viruses. We here examine the actions and strategies that MediLabSecure has been implementing and how they will contribute to the prevention and control of the ZIKV threat in the Euro-Mediterranean area.Capacity-building for arbovirus diagnostics is a major objective of the project and follows a methodological rather than disease-driven approach. This enables the implementation of laboratory trainings on techniques that are common to several arboviruses, including ZIKV, and putting into action appropriate diagnostic tools in the target region.Moreover, by its One Health approach and the interaction of its four sub-networks in human virology, animal virology, medical entomology and public health, MediLabSecure is fostering intersectoral collaboration, expertise and sharing of information. The resulting exchanges (methodological, communication and operational) across disciplines and across countries, dedicated research on intersectoral collaboration and increasing diagnostic capacities are providing new paths and tools to public health professionals to face emerging viral threats such as a ZIKV epidemic in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Implementation of the One Health approach to fight arbovirus infections in the Mediterranean and Black Sea Region: Assessing integrated surveillance in Serbia, Tunisia and Georgia

“…The type and number of institutions and stakeholders in charge for surveillance in the countries, and therefore involved in the study (Table ), give the idea of the complexity of relations and interactions involved in the integration. As we already pointed out, step‐up of inter‐sectoral regional capacities in the face of emerging viral threats is a methodological, rather than disease‐driven approach (Escadafal et al, ), which may lead to much greater efficiencies in the long term, though it may dilute efforts, increase costs and complicate capacity building in the immediate term (WHO, ).…”

Contribution of Regional Networks to the Control of Cross-Border Public Health Threats: EpiSouth in the Mediterranean Region and Southeast Europe

“…For example, the need for intersectoral collaboration to cope with cross-border emerging zoonosis, supported by EpiSouth since 2010, is now being enhanced with the MediLabSecure project. [55][56][57] This project, aimed at reinforcing the One Health policy, involves former EpiSouth epidemiologists and laboratory experts in addition to experts from other critical sectors (eg, veterinary medicine and entomology).…”

Emerging and Reemerging Diseases in the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region—Progress, Challenges, and WHO Initiatives

“…As of June 2016, none of the countries in the EMR had reported Zika virus infection but the risk remains considerable ( 15 ). This risk is highest in eight countries, Djibouti, Egypt, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, where Aedes aegypti mosquitoes exist ( 16 ). Furthermore, the invasive mosquito Aedes albopictus , another vector of mosquito-borne disease, is spreading in the Region and has been recently reported in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syrian Arab Republic ( 17 ).…”